After more than two months of escalating tension inside Scottsdale City Hall, Mayor Lisa Borowsky’s chief of staff, R. Lamar Whitmer, was fired on March 20, 2026, following a 65-day internal investigation, according to city management. Whitmer had been placed on paid, non-disciplinary suspension and escorted out of City Hall on Jan. 14, a move that set off days of very public sparring between the mayor’s office and top city officials over who really calls the shots in Scottsdale government.
City management confirmed Whitmer’s termination at the conclusion of the inquiry, as reported by KTAR News. He had previously been put on paid leave and escorted from the building on Jan. 14, according to ABC15. The city has not disclosed what specific policy violations triggered the investigation, leaving a key piece of the story sealed behind personnel rules.
Mayor Pushes Back
One week after Whitmer was removed, Borowsky took the unusual step of turning a personnel dispute into a public showdown. At a Jan. 21 press conference, she demanded that City Manager Greg Caton identify which policies Whitmer was accused of breaking and said her office had not been briefed on the allegations, according to Axios Phoenix.
Borowsky said the way Whitmer was escorted from City Hall looked less like routine HR procedure and more like an effort to sideline her administration. She told reporters she believed the move was intended to undercut her office and that she was weighing whether to call for Caton’s resignation while she pressed for answers, Axios Phoenix reported.
City Management’s Response
City leadership has insisted this is not a political hit job but a standard workplace matter that happened to unfold in a very public arena. Scottsdale Communications Director Holly Peralta said there was no hidden agenda behind the investigation or Whitmer’s removal.
“Any claim that this was a political hit is false,” Peralta told Axios Phoenix. City officials say they will not offer more details while personnel processes remain active, a stance that has kept the specifics of the case out of public view.
What’s Next
With her top aide officially out, Borowsky is turning her fire on the city’s rulebook. She told reporters she plans to convene a review committee to examine and clarify the municipal power structure laid out in the city charter so that future conflicts over who controls staffing and policy do not erupt in the same way, according to KTAR News.
Borowsky also publicly wished Whitmer well in whatever comes next and said she hopes whoever fills the chief of staff role after him is allowed to perform the job without interference, KTAR News reported.
Local Fallout
Whitmer’s firing is the latest visible flare-up in a broader struggle inside Scottsdale City Hall, where disputes over personnel decisions and Old Town projects have already been drawing attention. Those clashes have been chronicled in local coverage, including reporting by KJZZ.
For now, city leaders say the personnel review involving Whitmer is complete, but the underlying allegations that started it all remain under wraps, leaving the public to watch the fallout without seeing the full case file.
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